


Bog Bodies

by Spindizzy



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25960138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spindizzy/pseuds/Spindizzy
Summary: Whenever they find a corpse, Cousland stops to check it. [Set during the Korcari Wilds, mild spoilers for the human noble origin.]
Kudos: 6





	Bog Bodies

Whenever they find a corpse, Cousland stops to check it. Rolls them over to look at their faces, searches out insignias on their armour or packs if there isn't a face left – she even wades into a pond to fish out a body at one point, mud splattering up her legs and half-soaking her dog when it went in after her. If she were just stripping them for their valuables, Daveth'd understand it, but she isn't. She takes letters, sometimes, and things that would identify the bodies, but nothing worth actual coin.

Alistair pretends he hasn't noticed anything at all, but Daveth can see him watching them; he wants to know how they'll handle it. Daveth handles it by shrugging and helping her roll them. He doesn't know what she's looking for, but he can guess from the way her breathing hitches whenever it's a human bloke in the mud. 

Cousland doesn't care if he finds a coin purse or two while they turn out pockets. Doesn't even blink.

Jory though – he can't handle it at all. It makes him jumpy. Every time one of them steps off the path he winces and turns away so he doesn't have to see, which'd be fine if he didn't keep looking at Alistair and huffing, like he's waiting for someone to step in. The way Jory scowls and checks the sun's progress every time makes him think of how his father looked whenever Daveth were late coming home.

He manages to hold out for longer than Daveth expected though. It's the middle of the afternoon and Cousland's helping Daveth clamber out of a ditch when Jory finally snaps. "What in _Andraste's name_ do you think you're doing? We have more important things to do than poke every rock and tree and body we come across!"

Cousland's clenches her hand around Daveth's, hard, and says "My brother was in a scouting party that went into the Wilds," in the flattest voice Daveth's ever heard. "As you said, the scouts were careful, but it can't have saved them all."

Jory stiffens, mouth dropping open. Cousland musters up a winter-thin smile, all politeness and sharp edges, and stalks past him. Daveth meets Jory's eyes, then Alistair's; Alistair just shrugs and follows her.

The next time they roll a body, Jory doesn't say a bloody thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted October 2015.


End file.
